Photo Hiking Journal

Northrop F-5E Tiger II 12/26/14

A student pilot in the Aggressor Aerial Attack Instructor Course was on his first transition sortie in a Northrop F-5E Tiger II aggressor aircraft. The instructor pilot flew chase position in another F-5E. The flight accomplished a normal departure to the training area which was located north of Nellis Air Force Base. Traffic pattern stalls and several aerobatic maneuvers were to be accomplished during the mission. During maneuvering in the working area, the student pilot's aircraft went out of control. He safely ejected and was recovered by a USAF helicopter.

The F-5E served with the U.S. Air Force from 1975 until 1990, in the 64th and 65th Aggressor Squadron at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. An aggressor acts as an opposing force in military war games and uses enemy tactics, techniques, and procedures to give a realistic simulation of air combat. Since it is impractical to use actual enemy aircraft and equipment, surrogate aircraft are used to emulate potential adversaries.

Passing the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System (AKA The Burner of Birds/Generator of Little Electricity) on the left which is the largest solar thermal power plant in the world as I approach the California/Nevada boarder.

On the hike. The ordinal plan was to hike to an A-7D crash site with Steve from Las Vegas. We weren't able to do that one, so this F-5E site was done instead.

The first wreckage we came upon was this spring, think that it's to deploy the drag parachute. The white stuff is snow.

The remains of the drag chute.

Closer view showing part of the bridle. The canopy was melted into a blob.

This piece was nearby. The access cover is marked with "ACCESS TO DRAG CHUTE MECHANICAL INSTALLATION".

One of the engine exhaust pipes.

View from the other side showing the liner.

A large access panel.

Steve with the same panel. It has the part of the F-5E's nose number which was 06. That indicates that it is the lower left side access panel for the fighter's gun bay.

This looks like where the fighter first impacted the ground, with the larger pieces of wreckage going over a nearby cliff.

The left aileron.

Some avionics, the unit on the right looks like a gyro.

More pieces leading up to the edge of the cliff.

Looks like a piece from the wing with a hinge for one of the control surfaces.

This piece has part of the danger ejection seat insignia on it.

Looks like a grounding cable used when the aircraft is fueled.

No idea what this part is from, found two of these at the site. The spring is about three inches in diameter.

Part of one of the Sidewinder launch rails that would be mounted on each wing tip.

Another piece of avionics gear.

This piece is from the nose section of the fuselage. The sticker has a warning about microwave radiation from the radar.

Plates from a battery.

The battery the plates came from was nearby.

Another piece from the fuselage.

Looks like parts from a control linkage.

The nose section, with part of the wreckage hanging over the cliff's edge.

Another view showing the bottom of the nose section with two blade antennas. Also the remains of the radome.

Closer view the radome remains.

Close up of the antennas.

The stainless steel box is one of the two ammo boxes that the F5-E carried for it's two 20-mm M39A2 cannon.

Looking down, could see the right wing and the burned out mid section of the fuselage and lower down the tail section.

Zoomed in on the wing and burned fuselage section. Need to find another way down, it's to steep from here.

Found an easier way down, it also gave me a good view of a lot of the wreckage.

The right wing with the outboard section broken off. The leading edge flap is in the down position.

Close up of the leading edge flap hinge line.

Close up of the burned fuselage mid section that is attached to the wing.

The right main landing gear was down.

A little bit of the burned tire remained on the wheel along with the wire tire beads.

Bottom view showing the extended landing gear.

Close up of the gear retraction mechanism.

The wing was broken just past the inboard aileron hinge.

Close up of part of the fuselage.

This part of the fuselage survived the post crash fire.

The left flap was still attached to the fuselage. Got a little confused after looking at this photo for awhile. The flap's trailing edge is at the top, looks like this section of the fuselage got flipped over. This looks like it's the bottom side. Above the flap, the left wing's trailing edge can be seen.